Understanding your lab results is key to managing your health. Learn what common tests mean and how to talk to your doctor.

If you’ve ever had a doctor order a blood test for you, chances are that they ran a complete blood count, or CBC. One of the most common blood tests in the world, CBC tests are run billions of times ...

I don't know about you, but every time I get a blood test done, the report makes me feel like I've accidentally opened someone's chemistry notes instead of my own health file. Abbreviations everywhere ...

Aplastic anemia is when your bone marrow can’t make enough healthy blood cells, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. A CBC measures blood cell levels and is used to diagnose ...

A red blood cell (RBC) count measures the number of red blood cells in a sample of blood. It is part of a battery of tests called a complete blood count (CBC) that measures the different types and ...

In medicine, a person’s blood-test results are compared with the average range in a population. But results are highly individual and tightly regulated around a person’s own stable values. Changes to ...

Deb Hipp is a freelance health and medical writer and editor who lives in Kansas City, Missouri. She is a former investigative reporter with more than 25 years of experience as a journalist and writer ...

Steffini Stalos, DO, FCAP, is a pathology and lab medicine physician. She is also the chief medical officer of the lab consultancy firm Blood Associates, LLC. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration ...